The Arkansaw traveler., 1887-12-10
TOIu BOXERS BLUEDER.

Young Tom Boxer was fool enough to be ashamed of his calling. He had inherited from his maternal grand father very prosperous and lucra- tive tailoring business at the West End, which he carried on under the old name of "Pleating X Company" No excuse whatever can be urged for Tom's weakness, as he came from 8 long line of honest tradespeople, and he quite realized that his tailoring business was a very good thing. But he was rather good-looking, gentle manlike young fellow, and the truth was that his head had been completely turned through associating during his holiday trips, on the continent and elsewhere, with persons of superior social position, who certainly never suspected that he was a tailor. Find ing that he was generally taken for a young professional man or an officer, or at all events, a private individual of fortune, Tom could not resist the temptation of keeping up the de- fusion, until at length he became al- most morbidly sensitive on the sub- ject of his honest and necessary occu- patton. When he went away for his summer holiday he always chose some place where he was not likely to come across customers, or people who knew him in town, and laid himself out for making acquaintances among persons of higher station in life than his own.
 This year he decided to spend his vacation at the quietly fashionable watering place of Southdore, having run down for the day to reconnoitre and asccrtained that there was nobody staying there who would recognize him. He took rooms at the principal hotel, brought down his dog -cart and groom, and couple of horses, and soon succeeded, on the hotel tennis ground and elsewhere, in getting to know all the best people.
 Among other visitors at Southdore were Colonel ana Mrs. Vaughan and their daughter Mabel, the latter re- markedly pretty girl, as Tom thought. The Vaughans were staying at the Flagstaff hotel, and were evidently very exclusive and aristocratically unsociable reople. The colonel walked on the parade occasionally with the the old earl of Piccadilly, who was also staying at the Flagstaff, but seemed to hold aloof from everybody else. It was with considerable diffi- dence that Tom presumed to scrape acquaintance with the Vaughans, and in doing so he not only scrupulously refrained from mentioning his occupa- tion, but dropped hints which were certainly calculated to convey widely different impression of his position. However, he contrived to make him. self agreeable to them, and thus gained the privilege of getting opportunities of ingratiating himself with Miss Ma bel.
 This young lady easily captivsted Toms susceptible heart, and, as she soon began to evince very kindly feeling towards him, it was not long before he realized the awkwardness of his position. That life without Ma bel Vaughan would be dreary blank was a conviction which forced itself upon Toms mind at an early stage of their acquaintance, yet he was in- stinctively aware that the prize was beyond his reach. The young lady, to be sure, smiled upon him sweetly, and both the colonel and his wife, by degrees, grew quite friendly to him, even when they could not have failed to perceive his attachment for their daughter. In short, had he been diff ferently situated-had that luckless tailoring business been at the bottom of the sea, which Tom, in his frantic perplcxity, often enough wished that it were-there seemed no reasonable doubt that he would have stood an excellent chance of being welcomed by them as a son. n-in-law-a fact which was brought forcibly to his mind by the following significant circum- stance:
 One day there appeared upon the scene a little, pale-f faced, lank- haired, weak kneed young man, who pre- sented himself at the VaughanS apart ments with degree of assurance which caused Tom 8 pang of angry jealousy He was told afterwards that he was . merchant in the city and that his name was Walnut: and, judging by the blushes of Mi@ Vaughan, it was impossible not to per- ceive that the little gentleman was one Of her admirerH Hut Toms re-